Clinging to the Old in a New Year

It's a New Year.

I like the feeling of new things.

I like the new smell of a car and the feel of new clothes on my skin. The euphoria that new brings, delights us.

I think this is a great time for new beginnings, fresh starts and decisions resolved in our hearts.

But I think I'm going to focus on the old during this new year.

I think our world, the church, my life has focused so much on the new, we've left behind some pretty important things from the past.

Sometimes, I just want my world, my faith, my church to return to the simplicity of The Cross.

The Bible. Heaven. Hell. Sin. Forgiveness. Love.

I decided to do something different this year, strange to many. I'm leaving my Nativity out all year long.

I want to remember His simple Birth. Her simple faith.

I want to smile when I see His broken porcelain fingers and our decision not to replace this manger piece. (A gentle reminder that we aren't perfect, but broken).

I want to remind myself how I felt on Christmas morning, when we celebrated the birthday of our Savior.

I want this passage of holy scripture to be on my lips and etched onto the hearts of my children. This is what it's all about, at the simplest level:

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”- Luke 2:11-1

There's nothing wrong with new. I look forward to new things in my life. But so many live "out with the old and in with the new."

And that doesn't work for me.

Because some old things are still making people new.

Isaiah 43:19
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

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